The Last Survivor: Mutation
by DeathBlade131313
Summary: It's been three years since the green flu plague was released, the population now lays decimated in a dead world. Only a few survivors remain traveling across the country searching for salvation, but the infection continues to change and mutate chasing the survivors in an endless battle for survival. When our world ends, how can you stop, the unstoppable?
1. A Night's Rest

The Last Survivor: Mutation

A Left 4 Dead Fanfiction

**A.N. And we are back ladies and gentlemen with the next installment of my franchise! :D **

**It's not really a franchise I just call it that to make me feel important :3 **

**Lol anyways this is the anticipated sequel to my first story The Last Survivor, so if you haven't read that yet, don't worry you can still read this. It's better if you read the first one but you don't actually have to, in order to figure out where we are. **

**This is a standalone story just as much as it is a sequel :] **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Valve's game series Left 4 Dead. I only own my oc's and the plot of this story. (Enjoy your one serious Disclaimer note because the rest aren't gonna be so nice :] ) **

**Ok well here's what we've all been waiting for, please enjoy :D **

_3 years after first infection… _

The late evening sun continued to set in the distance showing off a dull orange glow over the quiet city. Fall was quickly approaching as the summer season ended, but the sun remained in the sky for most of the day still and the weather was decently warm during the daytime.

A young woman stepped up the porch of an old abandoned house, the aging wood creaking under her light weight. The structure practically mirrored the other suburban homes on this street, only each had their own form of age and decay. But despite this place not looking very habitable, the girl decided to try the front door anyways. The windows were smashed, the paint cracked and chipped off the walls, but the windows were intact and boarded up. So the possibility of a temporary safe haven could exist at this old residence.

Carefully she stepped up to the front entrance. Her clothing was extremely dirty, grime was caked all over her jeans and the red t-shirt she wore had three rips in the right side towards the back of her ribcage. Black and purple sneakers and white ankle socks covered her feet, but slung over her back she had a campers pack with much of her stuff held inside it. Beneath even that though was her pride and joy, a Colt M4A1 assault rifle remained strapped to her too.

But one thing she kept on her hip was a climbing pick and it's holster, it was a Petzl Quark Ice Tool-Hammer designed for ice and mixed climbing. But in the right hands, it worked as a deadly weapon. She unsheathed it and held it in her right hand as her left reached out to try the doorknob. And partly to her surprise, the door was not locked and it creaked open giving off the ominous sound into the air around her. She half expected it to be unlocked since this place had probably been raided already but it couldn't hurt to check.

Now any normal person would've shivered in fear, or had second thoughts about going into such a dark creepy house. But considering the fact that she had done this a thousand times before, and it was the apocalypse where creepy and horrifying things happened every other day, she was use to it.

The door was pushed open and the girl brushed her brown bangs away from her eyes then adjusted her glasses. They were cracked, but wearing them was better than being blind.

She clutched her tool with both hands since the handle was a bit big for her petite form, and started to take slow cautious steps into the entrance. Indoors was pretty dark since the sun was hanging low in the horizon but she could still see what was in front of her as she held her weapon up higher so in the event that she needed to swing on something, she could hit the head easier.

This apocalypse began years ago when a virus that people dubbed, 'The Green Flu' broke out turning all it's victims into ravenous zombie like creatures and monsters. Several unique strands of the infection mutated into intelligent creatures that survivors of the epidemic began to give nicknames to; like the Hunter, or Witch, they infected people through bites since the virus only existed in the saliva.

They were fast, strong, and relentless, plus every infected's only vulnerable spot was the head, in order to kill them you needed to destroy the brain. However this important piece of information took too long for people to realize and by the time the population figured out the monsters only weak point, there weren't enough uninfected people left to put up a fight against them.

And so here we are three years later, the few groups of survivors left alive wander the roads of this dead world trying to find a safe place to live just like this girl.

Only she hasn't found one yet.

A staircase was to the immediate right of the front entrance and she gave the dusty steps a quick glance up them before moving on. The upstairs could wait, one floor at a time was the appropriate thing to do.

The first room to the left lead to the kitchen, a square brown dinner table stood in the corner with three similarly designed chairs around it. A non-functioning fridge and several counters much like any other kitchen in any home. She considered going inside there for a minute and peaked past the wall separating the hallway from the room. Food was one of the biggest concerns you could have. You can fight the infected all you want, and almost always take shelter from any of the elements since nearly every building in every civilization was abandoned, but other survival necessities like food and water were hoarded after the outbreak.

Due to the utter chaos of the raging battles between human and zombie, standard food and goods transportation was cut off along with many functioning power plants. And since so many were dying no one could pick up where the previous workers left off and oil rigs stopped running, power plants shut down, food transports were left abandoned, water systems stopped pumping, and everything that was left stored in areas like grocery stores or peoples homes had been scavenged.

You were lucky to come across any form of supplies this long after the end happened.

The girl figured that this kitchen was most likely empty, but just like the possibility of a safe place to sleep, the possibility of a meal was also worth looking for.

However, the girl wasn't the only thing in the house that liked the idea of a possible meal. There was something else in the house…

It's vision was strange, it saw the world around itself with an orange hue, but everything looked a bit blurry. All except an aura shadowing the silhouette of the woman taking a step into the kitchen down the hall, it glowed red around her shape brightly displaying how big of a meal she would be for this lone creature. It was hunched over and it's body shriveled, the flesh on it was a sickly puss yellow, and it's spine visibly stretched out the skin on it's back. The creature only stood about two and a half feet off of the ground and it's lips and cheeks were missing showing off an eerie eternal grin, as it's body twitched violently.

A maniacal chuckle escaped it's throat as it made it's move pushing off the ground with it's withered legs covered only by worn jean shorts. It's laughter was quiet but started to get louder as it honed in on it's prey, the girl heard it's insane throaty laughing and turned to see it coming towards her.

The infected was so preoccupied with getting at it's food that it didn't even hear heavy footsteps coming up from behind it. And before it could react, a bowie knife was plunged through the side of it's head, making it's body flop down limply, dead.

On the other side of the hall the woman lowered the climbing axe and stared at the scene before her. A brown waterproof boot came down to step on the infected body holding it in place so a man's calloused hand could reach down and yank the nine inch blade free from the dead bodies skull. The man then slid the blade through the fabric of the infected's jeans a few times wiping off some of the blood from his kill.

He then slowly stood to his full height and sheathed the blade back into it's holster, which was attached to his belt through a loop on it. His pants were just as dirty as the girls was, with hand like stains caked on it as if he'd been wiping his hands off on them whenever they got too dirty. His torso was covered by a black T-shirt that had a Simon says game board illustrated on it with white text chipped a faded in some spots but still saying, 'Simon says you suck.' Over his back was another back pack similar to the woman in front of him, only his had red lining not purple.

In his hand right hand, which hadn't been occupied by the bowie knife, he held a nine millimeter Smith & Wesson 5906 pistol which he also holstered on his hip.

"I fucking hate Jockey's." He said stepping over towards his much smaller companion.

The girl smiled, "Nice to see you're ok too Kyle. And yes I'm fine thank you for asking." She said as the taller man passed her by.

He smiled at her and said, "No problem Daisy." Kyle said back to her and entered the kitchen, "Back of the house is clear, so is over hear I'm guessing?" He turned to her and she nodded in response as they both started sifting through the cupboards and cabinets looking for food.

"Back door unlocked or did you break in?" Daisy asked, both of there voices were whispers to not attract any infected attention. Bright lights and loud noises is what draws them to you.

The two of them spoke like they were talking about the weather, "It was unlocked, thank God too. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have gotten the jump on that Jockey." He said gesturing to the corpse in the hall.

Daisy stuck her pick back into it's holster and said, "By the way, I still would've had him if you weren't there."

Kyle looked at her, "Just like you had that Boomer right? You sure got him without me." He teased her referencing their encounter with that large bloated infected they had a few weeks before.

Instantly she stopped what she was doing and pointed at him, "That was a fluke!" She whisper yelled, "I had no control cause my gun jammed."

"Take better care of your guns." Kyle said back to her mockingly.

She then started smacking him playfully, the two made fun of each other constantly but almost never actually meant it. "Shut up!" She said as he reeled his arm back a bit, flinching away from her non-lethal strikes.

Both then went back to searching the storage areas for any form of sustenance. Unfortunately though, after several minutes of scouring the room high and low, they each concluded that there was nothing they could eat here.

This still didn't stop them from searching the house however and both of them proceeded up the stairs to scope out the second floor.

They were pretty sure now that the rest of the home was free of infected but it couldn't hurt to look. The second floor consisted of a master bedroom with a bathroom in it, and two other smaller bedrooms either used as a guest room or maybe children's back in the world before.

But just as they had anticipated, each room was devoid of life. So the two survivors gave this home the ok for them to stay in tonight. Good thing too since the sun had almost completely disappeared from the sky, the golden orb couldn't even be seen anymore. Only the faint light it gave off from beyond the horizon was visible now. The two survivors used this time to barricade the entrances will just some various odds and ends they found laying around. The kitchen chairs, a sofa, etc.

After that, they both decided to settle on the second floor since it was high ground and a better viewing point in the event of them being attacked during the night. Not that they were afraid of that happening too much either, they hadn't seen anything living for the last few miles except a few stray special infected like the Jockey downstairs. It seemed like the common infected were either always moving ahead while Daisy and Kyle were behind them, so they never encountered many. Either that, or they were just finally starting to die out.

Common infected human's had no actual requirement in their bodies to eat, they just desire to. So they could actually remain active for years, which explained why this apocalypse was still going on three years later. But eventually the bodies start to wither and die, so some day this end of days will be over once the green flu's hosts all finally die out. Just who knows how long that will be.

Hours later, the sun had fully set, and the darkness covered the streets along with the house our two un-infected were setting up in.

Kyle struck a piece of flint, scraping a spark off with the blade of his Winchester flip knife. Doing so saddened him a bit as he looked at the old knife, before the outbreak happened it was his own pride and joy, sharp as could be and glistening in the sunlight. Now the blade had been severely dulled, the steel was no longer tightly pact into the hilt; it had come lose and wobbled slightly, and rust was spreading out on the blade. It had saved his life many times over the years, but now it was more a tool then it was a weapon.

The spark ignited the small tinder, they had set up on the floor of the master bedroom. Although they didn't locate any food in the kitchen they still had some of their own, it wasn't much but it was enough for dinner.

Flames grew in their makeshift fire pit created from the internal part of a crock pot, scraps of the wooden table downstairs, and pages from a thesaurus, to a small enough size to heat their food, but not big enough to cast a large light. Neither of them wanted to signal anyone with a bright fire.

Kyle looked over at Daisy rifling through their stuff, "So what's on the menu for tonight?"

Daisy turned around and walked towards him before getting onto her knees in front of the fire, she had a can in each hand, one larger than the other. Both with no labels.

"All of the paper was torn off of them so I just picked two." She put them down in front of the man, "Pick." She said.

One of the cans had a pull tab on the top so he figured since it would be easier, Kyle picked up that one, and pulled off the top to see what was his supper.

Cat food.

Daisy couldn't stop the laugh that forced itself out of her mouth, which she almost immediately bit her lip to stop any more from emerging due to the look Kyle shot her. "I'm so sorry." She said, a goofy 'trying not to laugh' grin plastered on her face.

A sheepish smile went across Kyle's own face as he lifted the can and looked at the contents inside it, "Well…it does look like tuna." He said a little hope in his voice.

Daisy slapped the can down away from his face, not knocking it to the floor, just moving it away. "Don't you dare!" She said leaning a little closer to him before giggling a bit, the two stared at each other closely for a moment at that. Then Daisy decided to close the distance between them and placed her lips less then an inch away from his, "I don't want to be kissing kitty lips." She said before smiling a bit wider and pressing her pink lips against Kyle's. Their kiss wasn't long but it was gentle and sweet, and when they pulled apart Daisy brought around from behind her a can opener and worked on unsealing the can in front of her. "We'll share this one."

The two of them have been a couple for the last few months.

The metal tool cracked open the solid can and slowly twisted it off completely, it was ready to eat chicken noodle soup, no water or heating up required. But that's what they had the fire for, and they used a makeshift cooking set to prop it up over the flames so it would warm up for consumption.

Both of them decided to just sit quietly for their food while it slowly warmed, and made a bit of small talk in the mean time.

"Thank God we found that camp otherwise we would still be going hungry." Daisy said poking the fire inside the crock pot with a ruler she found in one of the kids rooms.

Kyle frowned a bit at that, "Yeah…"

Daisy noticed the drop of the volume in his voice and looked over at him to see his eyes looked down drawn. So she reached over and placed her hand over his, "Hey." He looked up at her, "Those people had plenty of stuff, and I saw what they were doing to their own." She justified the actions they took the previous month. "They were eating them, we couldn't have joined them cause who knows how they would've treated us. We just might've been more food to them, besides since they were eating humans they didn't exactly need these cans now did they?" Daisy said gesturing back towards her bag and to their food over the fire place.

The man shrugged, he knew that they did what they had to and they only took what they needed but he never felt right about it. Stealing from others wasn't him, it reminded him of the men who attacked him three years ago, they stole from him too and it nearly got him killed. Of course what they did was nearly kill him, while he and Daisy just took a bag full of canned food for themselves because they were starting to starve.

Daisy had found the camp initially and staked it out, only to find out that they were cannibalizing members of their own. Mostly dead, but people who were sick, or injured. Probably because they assumed that they would die soon anyway, but the idea of it was still sick.

"I know we've only done what we had to, to survive." He said blankly, "And that's it."

The smaller girl knew that once Kyle ended a sentence as blandly as that, the conversation was over. She knew he didn't like the idea of becoming the very thing they were fighting against, and that was both infected, and humans willing to kill for what they wanted to have.

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze then turned her attention to the can cooking over the embers, if she continued on the subject it would only get worse so it was better to just change it.

Wrapping her hand in a face cloth to protect her bare skin from the heat, she reached out and removed the soup from above the fire and blew on the steam to cool it off a bit.

"Hungry?" She asked sweetly, and tried to give him a reassuring warm smile.

Kyle looked at her for a moment like she just spoke in ancient Egyptian, but then relented to returning the smile and saying, "Yeah."

Once more Daisy blew on the heated container then very gingerly brought it to her lips and took a careful sip of the broth and some other more solid food. She swished it in her mouth experimentally for a second before swallowing, she then shrugged her shoulders and offered it to the man beside her. "It's warm." She offered since she thought saying it was, 'good' would be a lie.

Carefully Kyle took the container from her and took a sip for himself, he hated almost all forms of soups. But since it was virtually all they had, he figured he could tough it out for now.

Daisy tried not to giggle at the crumpled face he gave at the bitter taste of the broth but she wasn't very good at suppressing them earning yet another stare from Kyle.

Neither really 'enjoyed' the meal, but it was nourishment and that's all that the two cared about.

They took turns sipping from the can, passing it back and forth until it was empty with only a ring of broth left at the bottom. Kyle stood up and walked away from the small fire pit and moved to collapse on the queen sized bed, he liked to play tough guy often and pretend that all the strenuous activity they went through daily didn't take a toll on him. But he was very worn out, and the sleeping in an actual bed seemed very pleasant at this time.

Gingerly she opened her hands up a few inches away from the embers to keep them warm. The month was September, she knew this because Kyle had been keeping a calendar so he wouldn't forget the time of year. Neither was sure if he was one hundred percent accurate, but it was better than nothing. And since it was that month that meant summer was pretty much over and fall was now here, the temperature of the days were still moderately decent but it got much cooler at night.

The still seated girl looked over at Kyle's tired form and smiled again slightly, she couldn't help but feel how lucky she was to be surviving with him. Especially because of what she was about to say next, "It's getting a little cold."

Kyle peered over the edge of the bed and opened his arms. Both smiled as Daisy stood then crawled over the bed to lay herself over his chest like a blanket. Only she was technically the one wanting body heat so he was her blanket.

In her mind, moments like this made toiling through the challenges of every day worth it. Just a second to lay down with the man she loved and have a sense of normalcy was something that made her feel like the end of the world didn't even happen. Kyle stroked her back and she loved his attention, it was hard to believe it had been three years since the first time they ever cuddled like this. All that time ago in the first saferoom, back then though it was on a hard wood table, and they weren't together yet.

It was also before she nearly got him killed with those bandits, she frowned at the memory. Kyle promised her some ages ago that he forgave her and they could just forget about it but the fact that she did leave him for dead was always in her mind. She wished a thousand times over that she could've done it differently but what happened, happened and couldn't have in any other way.

And just like he told her, it was probably best to just move on.

Daisy suddenly hatched an idea in her head and pushed up off of his torso for a second and Kyle looked at her curiously. She tilted her head a bit and said, "You know…it's been a while." Her eyes drooped up and down his body suggestively, he had grown quite impressively over the years. When they met he was just fifteen, and now he was eighteen, having turned that age two weeks prior to now.

His body had more matured and his shoulders became more broad and defined, he had gotten even taller and his muscles were very lean on him. Also his hair had gained about an inch or so making his bangs long enough to cover his eyes if he wanted, and the dark color matched the scruff he had on his chin and neck.

Kyle smirked back up at her, "Since what?" He asked playing dumb, he knew exactly what she meant.

Slowly she leaned down until she was face to face with him, "Since you last fucked me." Her lips then crashed against his and the pair fell into a hot and heavy make out session. Their hands groped up and down each other's backs trying desperately to pull their bodies closer as their tongues wrestled for dominance.

They rolled over so Kyle was on top and his hands slid up and down his lovers front, groping her breasts and abdomen. She moaned gleefully at his ministrations especially when he moved them down Daisy's legs to under her knees pulling them up around his waist so they would wrap around his back.

Out of nowhere a shriek in the distance caught the lovers attention and they broke apart. It was without a doubt the scream of an infected horde, both survivors jumped away from the bed untangling their bodies in the process. Kyle tore his pistol out of it's holster and put his back against the wall of the room beside the only window. Daisy moved to their stuff which they piled in the corner and ripped out her Taurus Model 431 .44 caliber revolver, it was small and fit easily in her petite hands. She was very thankful they found this gun some time ago, after she lost her previous revolver she didn't feel the same without it. And although it was a different caliber the two guns were nearly identical so it was close enough, so she clicked open the cylinder to check the ammo and flipped it closed when she saw five shells in the fully loaded gun.

She then joined Kyle at the other side of the window and said, "Is anything out there?"

He paused and squinted his eyes as he peaked through the dark curtains trying to see in the blackness, "I can't tell." He said then asked, "How much ammo do you have again?"

"Five shots for this." She lifted her revolver a bit, "I don't know how many we have for the rifle. What about your double barrel?" Daisy questioned back referencing Kyle's shotgun laying with the rest of their stuff.

For a second he hesitated, "Four shells." He told her whispering.

After that for the longest time neither of them moved, the couple stayed under cover behind the window, excluding when Kyle walked away for just a moment to step on the fire putting it out completely.

When about an hour had past Kyle and Daisy were both crouched and leaning against the wall, still waiting for another sign of infected movement. However the 'on edge' look they had about them when they first went against the wall had long since vanished to a more tired and bored look.

"Do you think we're ok?" She asked him and Kyle stood to his full height towering over her.

He shrugged, "For now I think so, I don't know what caused a group of them to get riled up but it couldn't have been us otherwise we would've heard them at our door by now." Calmly he stated offering a hand down to the shorter girl which she accepted and rose up to her petite height. "Worrying about it for the rest of the night won't help, besides you look like your about to pass out." He cupped her chin to look into her eyes a bit revealing the bags starting to form.

Sleep was something else that was very desired but difficult to come by without having to fight for it.

Daisy smiled sheepishly, "Do you know what time it is?"

"Late." He answered vaguely, Kyle still wore his grandfathers old watch but the battery had finally died last year at 1:17 P.M. So keeping track of days he could do, time on the other hand he couldn't.

She shrugged at that and crawled back into the bed, Kyle mentally promised himself to stay awake next to her as long as he could, just to be extra sure that nothing was coming their way. If they were attacked in the middle of the night, Daisy could get bitten and who knows what might happen.

At that thought, he casually scratched at the crease of his elbow below his bicep. The scarred bite wound still itchy even after all this time, why he didn't turn? He never knew, but for some reason he didn't get infected.

Shaking off that thought he got into the bed with his girl. The blankets were missing from the bed for some reason but that was ok, since they would just cuddle with each other for warmth. Neither of them even bothered getting undressed or removing their shoes as they lay down beside one another. Laying on a soft surface was enough to make them comfortable.

"Rain check on my request?" Daisy whispered softly.

Kyle blew air out of his lips in a half hearted chuckle then kissed her forehead, "You got it." Daisy placed her glasses on the nearby nightstand then closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to enrapture her. But just like Kyle promised himself, he stayed awake for as long as he could.

It was times like this, when there was nothing to do but wait, with nothing to distract him his mind wandered.

He thought about everything that had happened so far, surviving day to day, waking up every morning wondering if today would be his last day alive. Trying to remember how much food, how much ammo, how much water they had. Keeping track of the day, how far they've traveled, it all taxed his mind with constant thoughts of survival. For the most part he didn't think about his life before the green flu, that was the most distant memory of them all. His family was lost to the creatures this world created at the very beginning of the outbreak so dwelling in the past did nothing but hurt.

Kyle thought about the friend they lost a little over two years ago, Zayna. They were separated over a bad situation when it came to following some new survivors, and he promised to find her again. But for some reason, no matter where they looked, it just seemed like she disappeared from the face of the earth. Kyle liked to think that they were still looking for her, but odds are that she would never be reunited with them.

But above all else, the one thing that crossed Kyle's mind the most at night. Was the one thing that saved him when he was at his weakest. The thing that kept him going when he felt there was nothing else to live for. The very thing that for the longest time was all he had in the world.

He thought about the first girl he ever loved…Gabbi…

**A.N. I finished this much quicker then I had anticipated lmaoooo.**

**Probably because I was so excited to get it done lol, well I guess that just makes it better for you guys then :] **

**Alright so everyone who has read my previous story has probably exploded with a variety of questions and concerns and possibly anger lol, and everyone whose new is probably doing the same XD **

**All I can say for now though is that the story has just begun ;D **

**Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the intro :] I'll see you guys next time!**

**Next Chapter: Merciful Greeting **


	2. Merciful Greeting

The Last Survivor: Mutation

A Left 4 Dead Fanfiction

**A.N. I have so much to do x.x **

**Having a life is the hardest thing since porn was invented…git it? ;DDD **

**But anyways, let's get back into this shiz **

**Disclaimer: Here's where Kyle goes berserk… Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…I don't own left 4 dead. **

**I like that movie, five virtual dollars to anyone who can name that movie ^-^ enjoy the chapter! **

Eyelids slowly drifted open revealing brown irises casually peaking around the bedroom. Daisy was slowly drifting awake after her first nights sleep on an actual bed in the last few weeks. Occasionally they would drift closed again, so she wasn't sure if she had awoken only to fall asleep a few more times, but she couldn't really care less. She was comfortable and that's all that mattered right now.

When she realized that she was alone in the bed is when she finally decided to actually rise from her slumber. She pushed up on her arms and looked around to find her partner, he was standing over by the same window they were crouching beside for an hour last night looking around for any possible threats.

He noticed she was finally stirring from her resting period and acknowledged her, "Morning." Kyle said giving her a smile.

She sat up and stretched her arms out over her head, "Morning." Her word sounded strained as she pulled the tension out of her still sleepy muscles. The male continued spying on nothing outside the window, nothing dangerous appeared to be waiting outdoors for them. Daisy meanwhile groggily got up from the comfy bed that lovingly graced her life and moved over towards her boyfriend and lazily wrapped her arms around him. Then still seeming to be half asleep she asked him, "whatcha doin?"

Kyle smiled at her and hooked one arm around her, "The usual. I haven't seen anything outside since I woke up." He said and turned down to kiss the girls forehead before stepping away.

"Are we gonna leave soon?" Daisy asked rubbing her eyes.

"Yeah." Kyle answered, "We're almost to the city, we've just gotta get out of these suburbs." He said heading over towards their gear and starting to pack up their things.

Finally beginning to wake up, the girl followed him over to the equipment and assisted in gathering the supplies. They didn't have to pack up much, just what they took out to make camp last night then get their bags over their backs again. Then they could be on their merry way.

This was standard routine for any survivor in a post pandemic world, never stay in one place too long and always keep moving.

No where was safe forever.

It took less than half an hour for the pair to be ready to go, no destination was exactly set though. They both just knew that New York was very close by and it would probably be infested with undead on every curb and corner. But it was a big place, so there had to be some salvageable items worth looking for, and since the survivors were running low on virtually everything but air; they had to risk it.

Eventually they both had their equipment on their backs, unblocked the entrance to the building, and left.

When they descended the steps and reached the warm late summer/early fall air, neither one could stop themselves from glancing at the other homes in this neighborhood. They knew that the houses were already scavenged, the survivors picked through them before deciding to settle in the house behind them for the remainder of the day and came up with absolutely nothing. Each of the structures just served to depress Daisy and Kyle a little bit more at each look.

Each of the old two story suburban houses had spray painted across the top of them statements like, 'Help! Alive inside.' The windows were blocked from the inside with boards and presumably furniture. And as they walked down the street every other house they came across had similar features, all boarded up and blockaded with several signs scrawled all over the various walls and roofs. Each one a different call for help.

They tried to ignore it as best anyone could, images of people crouching in the corners of their homes as the infected moan outside would flash through Kyle's mind the more he thought about it. Children huddled in their closets terrified and hoping to God that the scary things outside their room wouldn't find a way in, family's struggling against the cold winter time brought, or just innocent survivors slowly starving to death right in their own houses. It all plagued his mind, knowing that while a lot of this happened, he was probably snuggled up all comfy cozy in that fucking saferoom.

Daisy tried to remind him that there was nothing they could've done to help, but every time she did Kyle almost completely tuned her out. He truly did care about her, but she would never understand how he felt about the things they've done.

What they've become.

Wordlessly the two started trekking down the streets ignoring the stray corpses laying in some of the backyards and on the sidewalks and proceeded to their sort of destination. It would only take two hours max to make it into the city from where they were now, that's a walk in the park compared to how far they've traveled.

Kyle took the lead a few feet ahead of Daisy as she shrugged up her bag a bit more comfortably over her shoulders. Each had a gun in tow, the man held his shotgun securely and the girl held the assault rifle. While traveling it was always smarter to have the bigger gun in your hand, not for infected because the undead don't fear anything, but for intimidation in the event of being attacked by something un-infected.

Humans have fallen to a low part of the food chain because of the green flu. Our survivors have seen people at their weakest state where they would be willing to do absolutely ANYTHING for food. They've been nick named Desperate's, graffiti on the walls is how the name has managed to stick with them. That's what the camp Daisy found was full of, cannibalism is an act of desperation and evil, murdering others for their stuff is an act of desperation and evil, raping to satisfy your own wants is an act of desperation and evil. Nothing hurts evil more than insulting it's pride, so we call it desperate.

Their walk was quiet, neither of them had much to talk about anymore after being each others only company for so long. Besides talking even at low volume would just be more noise, and a greater chance of being spotted by the infected is all they would gain from it.

As time wore on the common infected were decaying more and more every day, rotting to a point of literally walking corpses. While they couldn't die by dehydration, starvation or other natural deaths, they could die by their own disease. The Green Flu as it turns out was toxic to it's own common infected hosts, after prolonged exposure to the sickness the infected person will begin to wither and die. So these undead could remain active for several years, but at some point they will all die out.

The special infected however were a different story, over time Kyle and Daisy realized that humans infected with the flu that became Hunters, Smokers, or any other special type, were not actually undead. Their bodies reacted in a way to the virus that genetically mutates them in various ways, but they are still alive. As long as special infected have food, who knows how long they could live?

Hours wore on with each step, from a birds eye view the survivors were only two small black dots amidst the ruins of what use to be a thriving community. Mail boxes were bent over and rusted, dried blood had turned brown and was caked onto the pavement, some bodies lay strewn about but for the most part there weren't that many corpses anymore. Time had begun to wither them away, or they simply got up from the ground and walked away. Just as an undead.

Eventually after walking for most of the day Kyle looked up at a old green billboard, _'Welcome to New York' _ was written across it in large white letters that were a bit faded but still legible. Finally the pair made it to the big apple, however looking ahead into the distance revealed that this once great city was now nothing more then a shadow of it's former self. Since Daisy was over a full foot shorter then Kyle being only five feet tall, she stepped up behind him, her breathing slightly heavy and her shoulders slumped from weariness. Walking all day was wearing her out, but she noticed that her male companion had stopped in his tracks and stood on her tip toes to peak over his shoulder.

"Oh my God..." She quietly breathed.

New York City was destroyed, buildings reaching up to the sky were gutted with broken windows on each floor and burnt out ceilings. Every structure for miles was beaten and burned, being one of the largest cities in the world; most of the chaos ensued here. Plus when counter attacks were launched by the military bombs were dropped ripping up the area even more so then the Green Flu could do on its own. Buildings had even collapsed to the ground, debris coated the streets furnishing every road with wrecked household and office appliances and loungings. The city that never sleeps, is long since dead.

Kyle stared at the wreckage before him coldly, he figured a major city like this would be in ruins but not this badly.

Shaking his head, he proceeded towars the city regardless of the devastation, Daisy saw his movement and quickly ran up to his side, "Wait, you still wanna go in there?" She asked power walking to keep up her pace next to Kyle.

"This is the only place we're sure to find food and supplies. We have to check it out." He told the girl keeping his eyes fixed on the road before him.

Daisy exchanged glances between the city and her boyfriend eventually relenting to following quietly behind him. She didn't like this, she REALLY didn't like this but he did have a point. They've been living off scraps for months, they needed more resources and this grand pile of destruction was their best bet at retrieving what they needed. So begrudgingly the pair continued on down the street, occasionally kicking over some rubble or other forms of liter in their path.

It didn't take long for them to reach the city streets, and it was uncomfortable how empty they were. The abandoned buildings stretched on for miles, the emptiness seemed endless. Literally empty, hardly any undead, the two only came across a few stray common's on occasion as they strolled through, and no bodies. No rotting carcasses that filled the oxygen in this place with the thick vile stench of rot and death. But the buildings were actually empty as well, including apartments and smaller convienience stores.

Daisy and Kyle searched around the best they could, doing there standard snatch and grab tactics with every place. To their dismay, every residence, every store, was as empty as the next. It was almost like somebody sweeped through the city, cleared out most of the infected, took whatever they could find and then left.

Kyle stabbed an infected through the back of its skull with his bowie knife and let the undead drop to the ground. The survivors were cutting through an alleyway and found a straggler leaned up against the wall so he dispatched it with ease and without gunfire. This however did not stop the frustration in both of them from building even further, they were putting all their hope into arriving at this city and retrieving some much needed supplies. But now it seemed like they were denied yet again in one of the most unlikely places imaginable.

And of course the bad news didn't end there, when the pair exited the alleyway they were greeted with a huge building wreckage blocking the street before them. It appeared to be just a standard office building, but during one of the bombings on the city it collapsed to the ground blocking off this road and many further to the sides of it.

"Whoa." Daisy whispered looking upon the fallen structure, the concrete was cracked and scattered around everywhere. Severe damage to this building and it's surroundings could be seen from a mile away. The two survivors didn't notice it due to cutting through every alley and store they could find.

Kyle's shoulders slumped a bit and he blew out a puff of aggravated air from between his lips, "Well shit."

Both of them eyed this building up and down, then left to right. "Should we go around it?" Daisy asked looking as far to her left as she could to see where the massive wall this structure caused ended.

The man didn't want to waste time going all the way around it, this building was a fucking tower but it was too damaged to identify which one it was before the world ended. He did notice however that the debris and fallen components of it did make decnt looking stepping stools for possible climbing. Gears in his head were turning, it would be much faster to just simply climb it plus they would have a high view point of the rest of the city. Since they hadn't been to the side that the builing blocked yet, so it had to be worth a try.

"No, we're gonna climb it. C'mon." He said casually and gestured for the petite girl to follow him calmly.

Daisy was a bit taken aback at this and her jaw almost felt like it was a little loose at his words, considering she wasn't exactly the bravest of women when it came to heights. And this thing had to be at least a good forty to fifty feet up since it was on it's side.

Her arms raised half-heartedly and her fingers flexed as if she was saying 'Why!?' with them but her lips remained sealed as she relented once again to following her man.

Kyle knew she didn't like this idea, and he didn't either, in fact he didnt like this city. It definitly hadn't given him the most merciful greeting that some other locations had, but right now it was all they got.

So all they could do was approach the structure, and pray to God that once they started climbing, the building wouldn't break any more than it already had.

**A.N. Not much happens in this chapter, it's kind of just filler but that's cause we're setting up for the bigger events to happen soon :]**

**Also I've gotten like a million and one questions that I was prepared to recieve, asking me about the fate of last story's fan favorite character Gabbi. Many are speculating that she's dead and although I can't reveal what has happend because I don't want to spoil anything all I can say is...**

**Never once have I said, or written that she is dead ;D **

**You won't have to wait too long to find out completely, it's revealed at the beginning of this story what happened so try to just relax until then. **

**And if you guys have any other questions, comments, concerns, or suggestions, leave them in a review! Or I'll just have to introduce you to Tony Hawke's brother Mike.**

**Mike Hawke. Think about it x))) **

**Next Chapter: Stalk**


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